---
title: But if the children chanced to die Ere they to age should come, Thei… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But if the children chanced to die Ere they to age should come, Their uncle should possess their wealth; For so the will did run. Who acts: children, age, uncle. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 11, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics 
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 11, sentence 38

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But if the children chanced to die Ere they to age should come, Their uncle should possess their wealth; For so the will did run.

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**Who acts:** children, age, uncle · **What happens:** chance, die, come, possess, run · **To what, where:** Ere, wealth

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This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (children, age, uncle), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg14241:25:38
# text = But if the children chanced to die Ere they to age should come, Their uncle should possess their wealth; For so the will did run.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	chanced	chance	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	Ere	Ere	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obl:unmarked	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
11	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
12	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
17	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	possess	possess	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
19	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	wealth	wealth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
22	For	for	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
23	so	so	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
25	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **chance** | participle | the children |  |  |  |  |  | vn risk-94-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **die** | to-infinitive | the children *not said here* | Ere |  |  |  | Children *= child* *obl:unmarked* | tree rules |
| 3 | **come** | should | age |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **possess** | should | Children's uncle | Children's wealth |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot wealth=Theme |
| 5 | **run** | future · do-support | the children *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 14241 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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